JOANNA'S FOOD: family cooking, from scratch, every day

Saturday, December 13, 2008

I've got a glut of lemons, so - at long last - I'm going to preserve a jar or two. And now I need a little advice from those of you who have done this. It comes from too much reading and not enough doing: does it really matter if you top up the jar with water as well as lemon juice? Or should it be only lemon juice? Paula Wolfert is stern: no water, just the juice of lemons you have squeezed yourself. But Pam Corbin, the author of the River Cottage handbook on Preserves, says you can top up with a little water.

I'll give both the methods (principally so that I can find them easily when we get back from a lunch party) ... but I'd really like some advice from anyone who's done this.

Quarter the lemons from the top to within a centimetre of the bottom; sprinkle salt on the exposed surfaces; reshape fruit.

Put one tablespoon of salt in the bottom of a Le Parfait jar. Pack in the lemons, squashing them down, adding more salt, and the spices if you're using them. Press the lemons to release juice, and add more if necessary until the fruit is covered. Seal.

Partially quarter the others by slicing lengthwise but keeping them intact at the bottom. Rub a teaspoon of salt into the cut surfaces of each lemon. Pack into the jars, sprinkling with salt and spices. Cover the lemons with juice. Top up the jars with a little water if necessary. Seal. Leave for four weeks.

13 comments:

I've never added any spices to them just salt a lemon juice.The recipe I've used only leaves them out 3 or 4 days and then puts them in the fridge for 30 days ( I shook every day or so for the month).I think you might be able to add a little water though all the recipes I've seen say no. If you add water I think you run the risk of watering the taste down - and that seems very contrary.Even if you know your lemons, I suggest washing and plenty of rinse water to remove as much bacteria and yeast as possible. Lemon juice will have better bacterio-static action if there are fewer organisms to keep at bay. I'd stick to 100% juice.

Tanna thank you so much for this very good and sensible advice. I don't like the idea of watering this down - and also, as you say, the juice is part of the preservation mechanism, so that might be weaker too. Also P Wolfert says that you can keep on reusing the salt/juice - she says she keeps a jar of it for tossing lemon peels she's used for other purposes, which seems like a good and thrifty idea

I just add lemon juice, I would worry that the water would make them mould (but I wouldn't want to take on Pam the Jam, whose other recipes I have loved ). We also preserve our lemons through to the end of summer (harvested in winter) simply by placing them one at a time in plastic bags and tying above each one, tightly, with string. Looks like a lumpy sausage or tie dye. As emergency standby I freeze freshly squeezed juice in ice cube trays.

the salt keeps unwanted bacteria out and the acidity of the lemon makes it all ferment along with naturally occurring yeasts on the skin of the fruit. i have tried once and ended up with mold on the top. i should have squeezed another lemon to top off since one lemon was peeking out. i was being lazy.

Hello Joanna. Given the amount of salt and the acidity of the lemons, there's very little spoilage danger I can think of in adding a small amount of water. I've never needed to (and recipes I've seen often just top up with juice from more lemons if necessary).

Fine - but I'm a beginner here, Wendy - Tanna at My Kitchen in Half Cups, (see the top comment) might be a better person to ask for tips on this. And I agree with her about using 100 percent juice - which is easy if you have your own harvest. Good luck

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We live in the countryside near Henley on Thames in Oxfordshire. This blog describes the food I make for our family: I'm not an expert, but I do cook from scratch every day. It's partly a health thing (less salt and sugar, better quality ingredients), partly because I prefer to buy food as locally as possible (great butcher nearby, a lovely Italian deli, I belong to a food co-op, a weekly vegetable box, flour from local mills). I try not to use supermarkets much, but don't always succeed. Each year, I grow a little more of our food, mainly herbs and tomatoes; I'm far too idle to grow maincrop potatoes, but this year we're growing salads and many more vegetables. We keep hens; I plan to keep bees, which would make me a third generation beekeeper. I bake all our own bread, although my children would prefer to be allowed to eat sliced white in peace.

From the start in 2005, I have written this blog mostly for myself: to help me keep track of recipes and links. I'm not saying what I do is best (or even better); I'm just writing down what I do. It gives me huge pleasure that my children use this blog when they want a recipe; I am also proud of the number of cyberfriends I have made (and met) over the years.

If you want to contact me, this is where to start: joannacary AT gmail DOT com

I'm happy to publish comments so long as I know who they are from. I have comment moderation for older posts, to block irritating spam which appears daily from Japan on a couple of posts. I will always delete anonymous comments, however flattering.